The Woman in Black by Susan Hill
Vintage (reprint) 2012
Dreary rainy days are perhaps the best for this 1983 ghost tale from English author Susan Hill. Cold, damp days will either give you the feeling you are safe from the marsh and the sea frets in your cozy, well-lit house, or for those with a darker turning or a more Victorian style house, that you are in Eel Marsh House itself. The Woman in Black is different from other ghost stories as the protagonist, a young solicitor from London, never doubts that the strange noises and ghostly apparition of the woman in black are part of a haunting. It is the ending that gets you, even though it may not surprise you. That and the fact that the woman in black is truly menacing. She has a decidedly evil aura about her.
The book is certainly scary enough. Not as frightening as the new movie starring Daniel Radcliffe makes it out to be though. There is no blood or gore. It’s that slow kind of creepy. Well-written with a well developed protagonist and a brooding atmosphere, this is a treat to read. It is quick and small; something to take your mind from whatever weighty tomb you happened to be stuck in the middle of or as an interlude before you start the next modern romance/tragedy your book club delved up.
If you liked The Thirteenth Tale, Her Fearful Symmetry or The Haunting of Hill House, if you are a fan of Edgar Allen Poe, or if you simply can’t stand seeing a movie without reading the book first, then this is for you.
That review was a perfect bulls-eye. I couldn't have agreed more and the similar reads are also true.
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